MULTI-PHASE TOUCH-SENSING ELECTRONIC DEVICE

Abstract

A touch-sensing electronic device includes a housing having a first touch-sensing surface, a second touch-sensing surface and a third touch-sensing surface; a touch-sensing unit accommodated by the housing for generating at least one control signal in response to touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing surface; and at least one functional circuit disposed in the housing and being in communication with the touch-sensing unit for performing specific functions in response to the control signal. The touch-sensitive electronic device supports multi-phase touch-sensing.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a touch-sensitive electronic device, and more particularly to a touch-sensitive electronic device supporting multi-phase touch-sensing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the development of interactive electronic devices, particularly portable electronic communication devices, touch-sensing is more and more popular as a human interface. For keeping improving touch-sensing functions and effects under commonly existing structures of electronic devices, development of multi-phase touching-sensing would be one of the solutions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the present invention provides a touch-sensitive electronic device supporting multi-phase touch-sensing.

In an aspect of the present invention, a touch-sensitive electronic device includes a housing having a first touch-sensing surface, a second touch-sensing surface and a third touch-sensing surface; a touch-sensing unit accommodated by the housing for generating at least one control signal in response to touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing surface; and at least one functional circuit disposed in the housing and being in communication with the touch-sensing unit for performing specific functions in response to the control signal.

In an embodiment, the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces are three different surfaces of the housing. For example, the first touch-sensing surface is a top surface of the housing, the second surface is a side surface of the housing, and the third surface is a bottom surface of the housing. In another embodiment, at least two of the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces are portions of the same surface of the housing, and incontiguous with each other.

In an embodiment, the touch-sensing unit comprises: a substrate disposed in said housing or partially or entirely packed by the housing material, and extensively disposed under the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces; a first conductive structure formed on a surface of the substrate and being in communication with the functional circuit for receiving power therethrough; a second conductive structure including a plurality of sensing electrodes distributed to the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces, and having capacitance changes in response to the touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing surface; and a controller in communication with the first conductive structure and the second conductive structure for generating and outputting the at least one control signal to the at least one functional circuit in response to the capacitance changes.

In an embodiment, the sensing electrodes are formed on the same surface of the substrate where the first conductive structure is disposed, and grouped into at least three sensing electrode arrays corresponding to the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces, respectively.

In an embodiment, there is an air gap between the surface of the substrate and at least one of the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces of the housing.

In an embodiment, the substrate is made of a flexible material and bent to have the three sensing electrode arrays facing the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces, respectively.

In an embodiment, the touch-sensing unit comprises a plurality of sensing electrodes distributed to three regions corresponding to the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces, and having capacitance changes in response to the touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing surface, wherein the sensing electrodes distributed to at least one of the three regions are disposed on a surface of a battery casing.

In an embodiment, the touch-sensing unit comprises a plurality of sensing electrodes distributed to three regions corresponding to the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces, respectively, and having capacitance changes in response to the touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing surface, wherein the sensing electrodes distributed to at least one of the three regions are attached onto a patch antenna which is embedded into the housing.

In an embodiment, the touch-sensing electronic device further comprises a display on the first touch-sensing surface, and the touch-sensing unit comprises a sensing electrode array within the display area for touch-sensing on or over the first touch-sensing surface.

In an embodiment, the control signal includes a three-dimensional data for controlling three parameters of the functional circuit.

In an embodiment, the housing includes two recesses or bumps disposed on the third touch-sensing surface and used as reference points for the touch-sensing operations.

In an embodiment, the touch-sensing electronic device further comprises optical sensing modules disposed in the recesses or installed in the bumps for image pickup of fingerprints prior to or accompanying the touch-sensing operation.

In an embodiment, at least two of the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces are portions of the same surface of the housing, which are incontiguous with each other.

In an embodiment, the touch-sensing electronic device further comprises an operational state sensor in communication with the touch-sensing unit for detecting an operational state of the electronic device so as to add a parameter indicative of the operational state into the control signal.

In an embodiment, the operational state sensor is an attitude sensor, and a resistance or capacitance change of the attitude sensor resulting from an attitude change of the electronic device is combined with a capacitance change resulting from the touch-sensing operations performed on or over the first, second and third surfaces into the control signal.

In an embodiment, the operational state sensor is a thermo-sensor, and a resistance or capacitance change of the thermo-sensor resulting from an environmental temperature change surrounding the electronic device is combined with a capacitance change resulting from the touch-sensing operations performed on or over the first, second and third surfaces into the control signal.

In an embodiment, the touch-sensing operations on or over at least two of the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces are detected to determine a gripping pattern, and information of the gripping pattern is combined with a capacitance change resulting from the touch-sensing operations performed on or over the first, second and third surfaces into the control signal.

In another aspect of the present invention, a portable touch-sensing electronic device, comprising: a housing having a first touch-sensing surface and a second touch-sensing surface; a touch-sensing unit accommodated by the housing for generating control signals in response to touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface and the second touch-sensing surface, and including a substrate extensively disposed under the first touch-sensing surface and the second surface; and at least one functional circuit disposed in the housing and being in communication with the touch-sensing unit for performing specific functions in response to the control signals

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is schematic diagram illustrating a touch-sensing electronic device supporting multi-phase touch-sensing according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a gaming pad, which is an example of the multi-phase touch-sensing electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic bottom view of the gaming pad shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is schematic circuit block diagram illustrating circuitry disposed on a substrate for touch-sensing according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flexible substrate disposed in the housing of the electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an exemplified configuration of a repetitive unit of the sensing electrodes according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is schematic circuit block diagram illustrating circuitry disposed on a substrate for touch-sensing according to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein an operational state sensor is provided for detecting the operational state of the electronic device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.

Referring to FIG. 1, a touch-sensing electronic device supporting multi-phase touch-sensing according to the present invention is schematically illustrated. The touch-sensing electronic device includes a housing 10, and conducts multi-phase touch-sensing by way of a first touch-sensing surface 101, a second touch-sensing surface 102 and a third touch-sensing surface 103 of the housing 10. Inside the housing 10, there is a touch-sensing unit 100 and at least one functional circuit 109. The touch-sensing unit 100 detects touch operations on or gestures over one or more of the first touch-sensing surface 101, the second touch-sensing surface 102 and the third touch-sensing surface 103 so as to generate corresponding control signals. The control signals are transmitted to corresponding functional circuit 109 to have the functional circuit 109 conduct associated operations accordingly. For example, the functional circuit 109 may be a main circuit of the electronic device or a circuit of a specific functional module. The specific functional module, for example, may be a light-emitting diode, a speaker, a radio, a timing module such as clock, timer or alarm, a mouse, a project virtual keyboard, a lighting element, a global positioning system (GPS), a game console, a smart phone or a tablet computer, a combination of any two or more of the above-mentioned modules, or any other suitable one which can be integrated with the electronic device and controlled by way of touch-sensing operations. Furthermore, for example, the first touch-sensing surface 101, the second touch-sensing surface 102 and the third touch-sensing surface 103 can be, but are not limited to, top, side and bottom surfaces of the housing 10, respectively.

It is to be noted that the term “touch-sensitive” or “touch-sensing” means not only to be sensitive to a sliding or touching gesture actually acting on a specified surface but also sensitive to an air gesture floatingly acting over the specified surface. The air gesture may be a vertically moving action and/or a horizontally moving action within a specified range, or a holding-still action for a specified period of time. The horizontally moving action, for example, moves a cursor on the controlled device; the vertically moving action (movement in Z-axis), for example, simulates a pressing operation on a virtual key; and the holding-still action, for example, wakes the touch-sensing electronic device up from a suspension or sleep state. Hereinafter, fingers are exemplified as the tool for executing the gestures. However, any other suitable tool capable of conducting a capacitance change may be used depending on practical requirements and size of the touch-sensing electronic device. For example, palms or conductive objects may also be used instead. For large-area touch sensing, a plurality of touch sensing units may be combined to detect a capacitance change so as to effectively enhance the sensitivity and effective sensible distance. For example, a combination of seven touch sensing electrodes, as illustrated in FIG. 6, would have a larger sensible distance than a combination of three touch sensing units.

The term “multi-phase” used herein indicates a variety of touch-sensing associated conditions such as touch-sensing modes and/or touch-sensing operations. For example and for illustration only, different objectives are controlled through different touch-sensing surfaces with different hands, fingers or objects. The touch-sensing operations may be performed independently on or over different touch-sensing surfaces, or a touch-sensing operation may be performed crossing more than one touch-sensing surface to accomplish one control action.

The terms “top surface”, “bottom surface” and “side surface” used herein are defined based on a common operational state. Taking a cell phone which is substantially in a shape of cuboid as an example, the top surface is the surface where information is displayed, the side surface is the surface where button control is performed, and the bottom surface is the surface where a back cover is disposed. In this example, the three surfaces are three contiguous surfaces. Alternatively, the three surfaces may be separate from one another, for example, if the housing is a polyhedron with more surfaces than a cuboid. Furthermore, the first, second and third surfaces may be portions of the same or different surfaces of the housing, where touch-sensing operations are performed with different hands or different fingers. Of course, an electronic device having more than three contiguous or incontiguous touch-sensing surfaces could also support multi-phase touch-sensing according to the present invention.

The touch-sensing functions respectively performed via the first, second and third surfaces, e.g. top, side and bottom surfaces, may be the same or different. Take a smart phone or tablet computer for example. By way of touch actions on or gestures over the top surface, where a display is disposed, common touch-sensing functions can be performed. For example, frame scrolling and/or icon clicking may be executed by touch actions on or gestures over the top surface with either or both thumbs of the user. The keys or buttons conventionally allocated on the side surface for volume and/or zoom effect control can be omitted and replaced with touch-sensing virtual keys and manipulated with either or both index fingers. In spite the omission of physical keys or buttons reduces manufacturing cost and laboring, the physical keys or buttons may still be reserved on the side surface, depending on practical requirement, without affecting the touch-sensing operations. Furthermore, via the bottom surface, page turning and/or cursor shift may be performed with either or both index or middle fingers. It is to be noted that the above examples are just for illustration only, and other function-surface correspondence may be defined.

Taking a gaming pad 2 as shown in FIG. 2 as an example, a left directional pad 21, a middle display 20 and a right directional pad 23 on the top surface 201 may serve as three touch-sensing surfaces, on or over which touch-sensing operations are performed with, for example, thumbs of left and/or right hands. If desirable, the side surface 202 where control buttons 24 are disposed may serve as a fourth touch-sensing surface manipulated with, for example, index fingers of left and/or right hands, and the bottom surface (not shown) may serve as a fifth touch-sensing surface, on or over which touch-sensing operations are performed with, for example, index and/or middle fingers of left and/or right hands. In a case that the housing has no definite edges, e.g. is spherically shaped, the three surfaces may be three portions of the rounding surface, which are differentially touch-sensed, or the three surfaces may be defined according to the orientations relative to the user. Since there are diverse examples, it is not to be redundantly described, and hereinafter, the first, second and third surfaces 101, 102 and 103 are specified as the top, side and bottom surfaces of the housing 10 for illustration only. The details about touch-sensing operations over a keypad and associated control methods may refer to a co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/594,273. Contents of the application are incorporated herein for reference.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an example of the configuration of the electronic device 2 on the bottom surface 203. As shown, there are two recesses 31 and 32, or bumps, arranged on the bottom surface 203 and used as reference points for touch-sensing operations. Since the user cannot look at the bottom surface 203 to perform touch-sensing operations on or over the bottom surface 203 while using the electronic device, it is desirable, but not essential, to have one or more reference points on the bottom surface 203 so as to facilitate the touch-sensing operations. In a preferred embodiment, optical sensing modules 33 and 34 are disposed in the recesses 31 and 32 or installed in the bumps for image pickup of fingerprints. Accordingly, fingerprint identification may be performed prior to or accompanying the touch-sensing operation.

For conducting touch-sensing, a touch-sensing unit 100 according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, includes a controller 44 and a sensing electrode circuit 42 including a plurality of sensing electrodes 421˜42n, as shown in FIG. 4, typically arranged as one or more arrays for touch-sensing of different touch-sensing surfaces. In an embodiment, the sensing electrode array includes repetitive units, each including six sensing electrodes 62-67 surrounding one sensing electrode 61, as shown in FIG. 6. Although one controller 44 is exemplified above for touch-sensing control of all the three touch-sensing surfaces, more than one controller 44 may be provided for touch-sensing control of respective touch-sensing surfaces. The controller 44, for example, may be an IC chip. The sensing electrodes 421˜42n are physically divided into three sensing electrode arrays, e.g. formed on three separate substrates, or virtually divided into three sensing electrode arrays, e.g. formed on the same substrate, for touch-sensing on or over three touch-sensing surfaces, respectively. When the sensing electrodes 421˜42n are formed on the same substrate 4, the substrate 4 is preferably flexible to have the three sensing electrode arrays facing corresponding touch-sensing surfaces, respectively. An example of the flexible circuit board 50 serving as the flexible substrate 4, where the sensing electrodes are formed, is shown in FIG. 5. Details will be given in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4-6 hereinafter.

Referring to FIG. 4, a schematic block diagram of circuitry formed on the flexible substrate 4 is illustrated. The substrate 4 may be accommodated in the inner space of the housing 10. In another example, the substrate 4 may be partially or entirely packed by the housing material by way of, for example, injection molding or any other suitable packaging technique, so as to be inserted inside the material of the housing 10. Preferably, the substrate 4 extensively underlies the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces 101, 102 and 103 to have the sensing electrode arrays distributed corresponding to the three touch-sensing surfaces 101, 102 and 103 for touch-sensing. On the same flexible substrate 4, the functional circuit 109 may be disposed. The substrate 4 may be a single-layer single-face circuit board which is advantageous in low cost and simple manufacturing process. Of course, it can also be a single-layer double-face circuit board, or any other substrate adapted for the above objectives. The circuitry formed on the substrate 4 includes a first conductive structure 41 and a second conductive structure 42 in addition to the controller 44 and the functional circuit 109. In this embodiment, the first conductive structure 41, the second conductive structure 42, the controller 44 and the functional circuit 109 are disposed on the same surface of the substrate 4.

The functional circuit 109 is electrically coupled to the first conductive structure 41 for receiving power, and electrically coupled to the controller 44 for receiving control signals. The second conductive structure 42 includes the sensing electrodes 421˜42n mentioned above, which are divided into top sensing electrodes, side sensing electrodes and bottom sensing electrodes, constituting top sensing array, side sensing array and bottom sensing array, respectively. Different touch-sensing operations on or over the top, side and/or bottom surfaces cause capacitance changes of the sensing electrodes so as to generate different sensing signals. In response to the sensing signals obtained from the sensing electrode arrays, the controller 44 outputs the control signals to the function circuit 109 to control corresponding work. The second conductive structure 42 should be electrically isolated from the first conductive structure 41. Therefore, at the intersections of the sensing electrodes 421˜42n and the power lines 411 and 412, jumper wires 49 may be used for connecting the sensing electrodes. Alternatively, other suitable means which electrically interconnects the sensing electrodes while electrically isolating the sensing electrodes 421˜42n from the power lines 411 and 412 may also be used, or the connecting lines between the sensing electrodes may just bypass the power lines 411 and 412, or the power lines 411 and 412 may bypass the sensing electrodes 421˜42n. For example, the jumper wires 49 and the connecting lines to the functional circuit 109 and/or the controller 44 may be provided on the substrate 4 by Surface Mount Technology (SMT) in the same process. If the substrate 4 is a single-layer double-face circuit board, via holes properly arranged may be used for the connecting and isolating purposes.

In prior art, the sensing electrode layer are attached onto the outer surface of a display panel for touch-sensing operations, which is so-called as “out cell”. In the above-described embodiment, if the electronic device has an display on any of the first, second and third surfaces 101, 102, 103, the sensing electrodes 421˜42n disposed in the inner space of the housing 10 may be attached onto the inner surface of the display panel or integrated into the display panel, which is so-called as “on cell” or “in cell”. On the other hand, if the electronic device has no display, or for the surfaces where no display is disposed, the sensing electrodes 421˜42n may be attached onto the inner surfaces of the housing 10. In other words, the sensing electrode layer underlies and contacts with the housing portions corresponding to the first, second and third surfaces 101, 102 and 103. Alternatively, taking advantage of the touch-sensing technique previously developed by the inventors, the sensing electrode layer is allowed to have air gaps from the inner surfaces of the housing 10, i.e. from the first, second and third surfaces 101, 102 and 103. Therefore, the sensing electrode layer may be formed on an existing element inside the housing 10 instead of the specific substrate 4. For illustration only, the sensing electrodes 421˜42n, as well as the functional circuit 109, may be integrated into the existing circuit board of the electronic device, formed on a battery casing, or attached onto a patch antenna which could be embedded into the back cover of the housing and having a shape consistent to the shapes of the sensing electrodes. In further examples, the controller 44 and/or the functional circuit 109 may be carried by an existing element inside the housing 10 instead of the substrate 4 where the first conductive structure 41 and/or the second conductive structure 42 are disposed, and electrically coupled to the first conductive structure 41 and the second substrate 42 via, for example, a flat cable. FIG. 5 schematically exemplifies a configuration that the controller 44 and the functional circuit 109 are disposed on the flexible circuit board 50, which is bendable inside the housing 10.

In a case that the housing of the electronic device is made of a metallic material, the sensing electrodes covered by the housing would lose sensing capability due to the electrostatic shielding effect. Therefore, in an embodiment, non-metallic material, e.g. plastic material, is inserted into and replaces portions of the housing at positions corresponding to the first, second and/or third touch-sensing surfaces so as to electrostatically expose the touch-sensing electrodes. Accordingly, the touch-sensing operations can be successfully performed. The non-metallic portions may be designed to have specific shapes or contours for decoration or identification purposes. For example, a logo of the product or manufacturer may be shown. If the non-metallic portions are further made transparent or translucent, a light-emitting element such as an LED may be used to brighten the logo, or a visible or invisible light such as an infrared ray may be used to trigger a sounding effect.

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates one of the repetitive units of the sensing electrode array, each six sensing electrodes 62-67 surrounding one sensing electrode 61. The sensing electrodes 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66 and 67 are shaped as seven hexagons which are separated from one another. Every two adjacent sensing electrodes are grouped into one sensing pair. The overall capacitance value sensed by one sensing pair and the overall capacitance value sensed by another sensing pair next to the one sensing group are realized and the difference therebetween is calculated. Accordingly, twelve pre-data can be defined. Three calculated data are then obtained by properly processing the twelve pre-data, which represent RGB data of the three primary colors. In other words, in response to the touching action conducted by a palm or one or more fingers of a user or any other suitable touching objects, three-dimensional data can be realized with these sensing electrodes. The controller 44 then outputs a control signal, via the first conductive structure 41, to the functional circuit 109 implemented with the light emitting diodes of three primary colors according to the three-dimensional data. The three-dimensional data can be directly referred to for adjusting the three primary colors, e.g. controlling brightness and/or colors of the functional circuit 109. In another example, the functional circuit 109 is a speaker, and the three-dimensional data can be directly referred to for controlling bass, treble and loudness of the speaker in addition to volume. Furthermore, if the functional circuit 106 is a display, the three-dimensional data can be directly referred to for controlling zooming in/out, rotation angles and brightness instead of only one variable. Alternatively, the seven sensing electrodes shown in FIG. 6 may also be simplified to three sensing electrodes. The sensed three capacitance values can be used to define the three-dimensional data. Another three-dimensional data can also be obtained in response to touch-sensing action on the back surface. For example, the three-dimensional data may be used for mixing light of the light-emitting diodes, mixing sound such as volume, pitch or sound field, photographing control such as zooming in and zooming out, and/or displaying effects of pictures, e.g. zooming in/out and rotation of images.

In addition, the movement track and the coordinate of the touch point detected by the sensing electrodes could be used to input instructions to the graphical user interface to control, for example, a cursor, page-switching or movement in z-axis. In other words, the touch-sensing operation can be conducted not only by the horizontal touching action or gesture on or over the touch-sensing surface but also by the gesture with a vertical shift along z-axis over the touch-sensing surface. Accordingly, the function like a virtual key can be performed. Furthermore, the overall capacitance variation sensed by the plurality of sensing electrodes allows a relatively long sensible distance of the touch-sensing device relative to the user's finger or palm or the conductive object so as to facilitate non-contact touch sensing. The effective sensible distance varies with the amount of the sensing electrodes. For example, a sensing unit with seven sensing electrodes would have more significant capacitance variation and longer sensible distance above the touch-sensing surface than a sensing unit with only three sensing electrodes. The details of other grouping effects may refer to a co-pending US Patent Application Publication Nos. 2014/0035865 A1 and 2014/0097885 A1. Contents of the applications are incorporated herein for reference.

On the other hand, the sensible distance over the touch-sensing surface would be affected by the area of the sensing electrodes on the touch-sensing surface, and vice versa, affect the optimal area of the touch-sensing surface. Furthermore, by sensing the vertical movement of the finger, palm or conductive object over the touch-sensing surface at different time points, a scanning effect similar to the scanning effect horizontally performed on the touch-sensing surface can be obtained. If the vertical movement of the finger, palm or conductive object toward the touch-sensing surface is to simulate the operation of clicking on an icon, the image of the icon starts to visibly change, e.g. bend or distort, once the distance between the finger, palm or conductive object and the icon is decreased to a threshold value. If the distance is further decreased to a preset ratio to the threshold value, e.g. 50%, the image of the icon may be subjected to an animation effect, e.g. explosion, to represent the successful actuation.

In an extensive embodiment, the touch-sensing result on or over the touch-sensing surfaces can be used to determine how the electronic device is used. For example, when simultaneous touch-sensing actions on or over two or more touch-sensing surfaces are detected, a gripping gesture can be determined. That is, a user is gripping the electronic device. Meanwhile, a gripping pattern can also be detected to determine what the user is using the electronic device for. For example, when the electronic device is a smart phone, a gripping pattern showing that the smart phone is gripped by the user with a palm could mean that the user is watching or listening to the smart phone. On the other hand, a gripping pattern showing that the smart phone is gripped by the user with fingers could mean that the user is conducting payment with the smart phone.

Since the touch-sensing unit 100 is capable of performing non-contact touch-sensing in addition to conventional contact touch-sensing, the touch-sensing operations may be performed with or without an air gap from touch-sensing surface, e.g. the first touch-sensing surface 101, the second touch-sensing surface 102 or the third touch-sensing surface 103. Moreover, since an additional parameter such as gripping gesture and/or gripping pattern can be used to realize the operational condition of the electronic device, respective functions can be executed with similar touch-sensing operations under different operational conditions so as to be advantageous in design flexibility.

In another extensive embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, an attitude sensor 71, e.g. a G-sensor or a gyroscope, a thermo-sensor 72, e.g. a thermistor, and/or any other suitable sensing element can be used with the touch-sensing unit of the present invention. The attitude sensor 71 and the thermo-sensor 72 are electrically coupled to the controller 44. The controller 44 combines the resistance or capacitance change of the attitude sensor 71 resulting from the attitude change of the electronic device and/or the resistance or capacitance change of the thermo-sensor 72 resulting from the environmental temperature change with the touch-sensing result on or over the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces into a set of control instructions, which can be used to provide diversified interfaces and functions. For example, assume the electronic device includes a headphone/speaker dual-functional element. If the attitude sensor 71 included in the electronic device detects that the electronic device is placed on a supporting plane, the controller 44 controls the headphone/speaker dual-functional element to function as a speaker. Accordingly, the speaker in the functional circuit 109 is controlled within a first volume range. On the other hand, if the attitude sensor 71 detects an attitude change and determines it is the headphone working, it is changed to a second volume range. The second volume range overlaps with the lower part of the first volume range. The volume can be tuned by a touch-sensing operation corresponding to volume adjustment on or over the touch-sensing surface. In addition to controlling volume, the sensing result of the attitude sensor 71 may also be used to control sound features like direction, field, quality or pitch. In another example, the electronic device is a musical instrument or a toy. The attitude sensing result shows the operational condition of the electronic device, and touch-sensing operations corresponding to the operational condition are performed to control functions of the electronic device, e.g. quality, volume or pitch of sound.

In a further extensive embodiment, the electronic device is a sports ring integrated therewith the attitude sensor 71 and the thermo-sensor 72. In response to the sports conditions, the controller 44 combines the resistance or capacitance change of the attitude sensor 71 resulting from the attitude change of the electronic device and/or the resistance or capacitance change of the thermo-sensor 72 resulting from the environmental temperature change with the touch-sensing result on or over the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces into a set of control instructions, which can be used to provide diversified interfaces and functions for the sports ring. For example, the sports ring may exhibit functions of monitoring body-temperature or calculating consumed calories, and a touch-sensing input interface may be provided for the sports ring.

By way of the present invention, touch-sensing operations can be done through three surfaces of the electronic device, so more and more touch-sensing functions can be conducted. The touch-sensing functions can be further improved and diversified by detecting the operational state of the electronic device and adding a parameter indicative of the operational state into the control signals. Accordingly, the control signals could be defined in more ways.

Furthermore, if the three touch-sensing surfaces are reachable by three fingers of one hand, a single hand can control multiple touch-sensing phases conventionally achieved by both hands. In addition, the conventional physical side keys or buttons can be omitted to reduce cost and laboring.

While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.

Claims

1. A touch-sensing electronic device, comprising:

a housing having a first touch-sensing surface, a second touch-sensing surface and a third touch-sensing surface;

a touch-sensing unit accommodated by the housing for generating at least one control signal in response to touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing surface; and

at least one functional circuit disposed in the housing and being in communication with the touch-sensing unit for performing specific functions in response to the control signal.

2. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the first touch-sensing surface is a top surface of the housing, the second touch-sensing surface is a side surface of the housing, and the third touch-sensing surface is a bottom surface of the housing.

3. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the touch-sensing unit comprises:

a substrate disposed in said housing or partially or entirely packed by the housing material, and extensively disposed under the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces;

a first conductive structure for receiving power, formed on a surface of the substrate and being in communication with the functional circuit;

a second conductive structure including a plurality of sensing electrodes distributed to the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces, and having capacitance changes in response to the touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing surface; and

a controller in communication with the first conductive structure and the second conductive structure for generating and outputting the at least one control signal to the at least one functional circuit in response to the capacitance changes.

4. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the sensing electrodes are formed on the same surface of the substrate where the first conductive structure is disposed, and grouped into at least three sensing electrode arrays corresponding to the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces, respectively.

5. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 4, wherein there is an air gap between a surface of the substrate and at least one of the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces of the housing.

6. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 4, wherein the substrate is made of a flexible material and bent to have the three sensing electrode arrays facing the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces, respectively.

7. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the touch-sensing unit comprises a plurality of sensing electrodes distributed to three regions corresponding to the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces, respectively, and having capacitance changes in response to the touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing surface, wherein the sensing electrodes distributed to at least one of the three regions are disposed on a surface of a battery casing.

8. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the touch-sensing unit comprises a plurality of sensing electrodes distributed to three regions corresponding to the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces, respectively, and having capacitance changes in response to the touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing surface, wherein the sensing electrodes distributed to at least one of the three regions are attached onto a patch antenna which is embedded into the housing.

9. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1, comprising a display on the first touch-sensing surface, and the touch-sensing unit comprises a sensing electrode array within the display area for touch-sensing on or over the first touch-sensing surface.

10. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control signal includes a three-dimensional data for controlling three parameters of the functional circuit.

11. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the housing includes two recesses or bumps disposed on the third touch-sensing surface and used as reference points for the touch-sensing operations.

12. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 11, further comprising optical sensing modules disposed in the recesses or installed in the bumps for image pickup of fingerprints prior to or accompanying the touch-sensing operation.

13. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1, wherein at least two of the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces are portions of the same surface of the housing, which are incontiguous with each other.

14. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising an operational state sensor in communication with the touch-sensing unit for detecting an operational state of the electronic device so as to add a parameter indicative of the operational state into the control signal.

15. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 14, wherein the operational state sensor is an attitude sensor, and a resistance or capacitance change of the attitude sensor resulting from an attitude change of the electronic device is combined with a capacitance change resulting from the touch-sensing operations performed on or over the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces into the control signal.

16. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 14, wherein the operational state sensor is a thermo-sensor, and a resistance or capacitance change of the thermo-sensor resulting from an environmental temperature change surrounding the electronic device is combined with a capacitance change resulting from the touch-sensing operations performed on or over the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces into the control signal.

17. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the touch-sensing operations on or over at least two of the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces are detected to determine a gripping pattern, and information of the gripping pattern is combined with a capacitance change resulting from the touch-sensing operations performed on or over the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces into the control signal.

18. A portable touch-sensing electronic device, comprising:

a housing having a first touch-sensing surface and a second touch-sensing surface;

a touch-sensing unit accommodated by the housing for generating control signals in response to touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface and the second touch-sensing surface, and including a substrate extensively disposed under the first touch-sensing surface and the second touch-sensing surface; and

at least one functional circuit disposed in the housing and being in communication with the touch-sensing unit for performing specific functions in response to the control signals.

19. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 18, wherein the substrate is made of a flexible material and disposed thereon the at least one functional circuit.

20. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 18, wherein the substrate is disposed thereon a plurality of sensing electrodes distributed to the first and second touch-sensing surfaces, and having capacitance changes in response to the touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the first and second touch-sensing surfaces.